6 Applications of Cloud Computing Your Enterprise Should Use

It’s no stretch to say that you can do basically anything in the cloud. In the past decade, the number of tasks that can be natively performed in a cloud environment has grown exponentially. With the rise of everything-as-a-service (XaaS) and the constant growth of public cloud offerings, cloud computing has more potential uses now than ever before. The potential applications of cloud computing for enterprises are, in a word, endless.

Business that adopt the cloud gain the ability to take advantage of these applications. By doing so, they can get the most out of their cloud environment while maintaining their business productivity. These applications can be specific to certain verticals or markets, but this article will focus on uses that any enterprise, regardless of industry, can (and should) implement. Read on to discover 6 applications of cloud computing that your company should consider taking advantage of.

File storage and sharing

This is perhaps the most common use for cloud computing for any cloud user, including enterprises. Storing files on a cloud environment means you store them in an easily-accessible location. Your company can keep your files on an off-premise environment that eliminates the need to maintain physical servers yourself. Off-site file storage also makes it easier for your enterprise to share the files with others, as you don’t have to rely on your own hardware to host the data.

Database building

Building a database for every one of your enterprise’s projects is not only tedious, but also resource-intensive. Rather than build a physical database, businesses can take advantage of the cloud’s scalable resources to maintain virtual databases. Not only does this reduce your physical infrastructure, it can also grow or shrink depending on the enterprise’s needs, promoting cost and resource efficiency.

Application and website hosting

Hosting applications and websites on your infrastructure can be a huge resource strain. By hosting applications and websites in the cloud, you’ll free up those resources that your enterprise can apply to other important projects. This also provides a way for enterprises to scale their applications and websites by using the abundant supply of cloud resources.

Big data analytics

Enterprises generate and analyze countless amounts of data on a daily basis. Because of the computing power necessary to store that data, not to mention perform an analysis on it, companies traditionally needed to build a powerful architecture. Now, thanks to the cloud, your enterprise can run the data analysis off-premise, saving resources for other projects.

Disaster recovery

Storing a backup of your company’s data infrastructure in the case of an emergency is one of the smartest practices an enterprise can take. Every business should have a disaster recovery strategy in mind, and the cloud is a perfect system to use for it. A cloud backup is stored off-site, which means that if a disaster completely knocks out your on-premise infrastructure, your data will be unaffected.

Data archiving and cold storage

Often, enterprises store data that they aren’t currently using, but still keep on their systems for compliance or archival reasons. Building a physical archive server can be costly, as your company needs to maintain servers specifically built to store unused data. The cloud’s pay-as-you-use pricing model provides a cost-effective cold storage method, since you will only pay to use the storage space you fill up. It also, again, eliminates the need for physical installations.

Our MSP Buyer’s Guide contains profiles on the top cloud MSP vendors for AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud, as well as questions you should ask providers and yourself before buying.

Check us out on Twitter for the latest in Cloud news and developments!

Dan is a tech writer who writes about Enterprise Cloud Strategy and Network Monitoring for Solutions Review. He graduated from Fitchburg State University with a Bachelor's in Professional Writing. You can reach him at dhein@solutionsreview.com

Solutions Review brings all of the technology news, opinion, best practices and industry events together in one place. Every day our editors scan the Web looking for the most relevant content about all things enterprise cloud and posts it here.